An Italian-French consortium reached a final investment decision on Tuesday to develop Cyprus’s offshore Kronos gas field and link it to Egyptian processing facilities, while reports emerged of negotiations for a potential $20 billion deal to import gas from Israel’s Tamar field.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi announced that the joint venture between Italy’s Eni and France’s TotalEnergies made its final investment decision to develop the Kronos field.
Production is set to begin in 2028, with raw gas piped to Egypt for processing at the Zohr field facilities, liquefied at the Damietta plant, and re-exported to European markets.
Badawi said the decision reflects international energy companies’ confidence in Egypt’s infrastructure and supports the government’s plan to turn the country into a regional center for natural gas trading and processing.
The project marks the first development connecting a Cypriot offshore discovery directly to Egyptian infrastructure, following the completion of agreements regulating the use of the processing and liquefaction facilities. Badawi described the project as a model for regional cooperation in using Eastern Mediterranean natural gas resources.
The investment decision follows a framework agreement signed by Egypt and Cyprus in late March 2026 to cooperate on natural gas. That agreement aimed to transport Cypriot gas to Egypt to meet part of domestic demand while sending the remaining volume to Egyptian liquefaction plants for re-export.
It built on a set of understandings reached in February 2025 to pipe gas from both the Kronos and Aphrodite fields to Egypt for liquefaction at the Idku and Damietta plants before export to Europe as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
New deal talks over Israel’s Tamar field
Meanwhile, a report published last Friday by the industry publication Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) revealed that two partners in Israel’s offshore Tamar field—Isramco and Mubadala Energy—signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an unnamed Egyptian buyer. The agreement outlines the supply of up to 80 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas between 2031 and 2038, with an option to extend the deal through 2043.
According to MEES, the total value of the deal could reach roughly $20 billion if all partners in the Tamar field participate and full target volumes are delivered. This estimate is based on Isramco’s projection of generating $5.75 billion in revenue from its 28.75% stake in the field. If some partners decide not to join, both the supplied volumes and the deal’s total value will decrease accordingly.
The report noted that the Egyptian signatory is not Blue Ocean Energy, the company currently handling Israeli gas imports, indicating that the agreement was signed with a different, undisclosed Egyptian buyer.
Last year, NewMed Energy—a partner in Israel’s offshore Leviathan field—announced the largest gas export agreement in Israel’s history, a contract with Egypt valued at up to $35 billion.
That deal included a “Take or Pay” clause, requiring the buyer to pay for agreed volumes even if it does not take delivery, ensuring steady cash flow for the supplier.
Egypt began importing gas from Israel in 2020 under a 2019 agreement to receive about 60 billion cubic meters of gas, part of Cairo's efforts to cover local needs and strengthen its role as a regional gas processing and trading hub.
